Gardenstown - Church of St John the Evangelist

In 1829 a new church was built about a mile away, but this graveyard continued in use. Seen here is the gravestone of my great-great-great-grandfather, William Dockar, a farmer, formerly of Findon, then Gellyhill, who died in 1871, and his wife Margaret Sharp, who died in 1864.

William's son, also William, a sailor in the Royal Navy, had a liason with Barbara Munro in 1850 whilst on leave. William Munro Dockar, my great-grandfather, was born a natural child in 1851 in nearby MacDuff. The sailor went on to marry Helen Hopping in Exeter in 1862, retiring to Weymouth at the end of his naval career. My William and his family ended up in Leeds, Yorkshire. BW 2019

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